UW Alumni Association Sponsors Free Virtual 5K Run June 20

The University of Wyoming Alumni Association (UWAA) is sponsoring the first “Tracing Our Roots Virtual 5K Walk/Run” for alumni and friends Saturday, June 20, to commemorate the association’s first meeting 125 years ago. The exact same date in 1895 also is when UW’s school colors were inadvertently selected.

While the first meeting was significant for the alumni association, so is the story behind the colors of UW. On June 20, 1895, funds were unavailable for decorations for the UWAA’s first meeting. Two banquet organizers traveled to Laramie Springs to look for native flowers and came back with a buggy full of brown-eyed Susans.

The alumni were so impressed with the brown and gold, and the beauty of the flowers, they decided to select these as UW’s official school colors. Today, faithful UW alumni and fans all over the world wear the brown and gold with pride.

The “Tracing Our Roots Virtual 5K Walk/Run” is free, and participants can complete the race at their leisure from any location at any time throughout the day. Registration can be completed through the UWAA’s run sign-up website by clicking here. This also allows participants to find fellow alumni and friends who registered in their area.

Special race bibs are available for dogs that participate with their owners.

“Add them as you would another registrant -- just specify with the word ‘Dog’ after the first or last name when registering,” says Chrissie Henschler, UWAA public relations and engagement manager.

For more information, visit the UWAA’s website at www.uwyo.edu/alumni/.

“In sharing the responsibility to limit the spread of the coronavirus, the UWAA is asking participants to maintain proper state and local social distancing guidelines -- six feet of distance from others,” Henschler says.

The event does not support physical gatherings and is intended to support social connectedness through physical distancing, she adds.

“By remembering our storied history, the UWAA hopes to fulfill its initial charge and virtually connect and reconnect former students and friends to the university, and to each other, as well as encourage prospective students to participate and wear their brown and gold,” she adds. “Do not forget to wear your favorite brown and gold attire and accessories.”

Participants are asked to submit race photos by using the hashtag #125UWAA5K on Twitter and Instagram, and to the UWAA’s Facebook events page.

For more information, call Henschler at (307) 760-3254 or email chensch@uwyo.edu.